Central Peninsula Hospital | Pulse | Spring 2021

Vaccines will help us flatline COVID-19 I want to thank all of you for staying safe during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Your efforts helped keep the number of hospitalizations down to a level we could manage at Central Peninsula Hospital. While we did open an overflow area in the hospital, we were able to provide care for everyone locally. Managing the patient load and not letting anyone become overwhelmed was the key to getting through this together following our spike in November. Unfortunately, we are not quite through this pandemic yet, but the future looks promising. With COVID-19 vaccines now available in limited supplies, Alaska is doing better than most states at getting our residents vaccinated and protected from this virus. Building immunity in our state, community by community, is our best path forward to returning to normal. Because of this, I strongly encourage you to consider getting your vaccination. Making sure you get vaccinated early can help save your life and protect the lives of oth- ers. Getting vaccinated is an important step to prevent getting sick with COVID-19. COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. Millions of people in the United States have already received COVID-19 vaccines, and these vaccines have undergone the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history. This monitoring includes using both established and new safety monitoring systems to make sure that COVID-19 vaccines are safe. Results from these monitoring efforts are reassuring. While some people don’t have any side effects after getting a COVID-19 vaccine, many people will have mild side effects, like pain or swelling at the injection site, a headache, chills, or fever. These reactions are normal and show the vaccine is working. A small number of people have had a severe allergic reaction (called “anaphylaxis”) after vaccination, but this is extremely rare, and when it does happen, vaccination providers have medicines available that they can use to effectively and immedi- ately treat the reaction. You will be asked to stay for 15 to 30 minutes after you get your vac- cine so you can be observed and treated in the rare case it is needed. The combination of COVID-19 vaccination and following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommendations to protect yourself and others offers the best protection from COVID-19. CDC recommends you get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as you are eligible. I look forward to celebrating the defeat of COVID-19 with everyone in the very near future! Rick Davis, CEO Central Peninsula Hospital A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO Photo by Kerri Williamson 2 Central Peninsula Hospital